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This paper was read before the education section of the British Psychological Society, June, 1925. The term educationist is here used in its wider sense to embrace all those who by design or propinquity exercise some influence over the children with whom they come in contact. It is shown to be a process laid down as stratification, the lowest layer of which is the basic formative influence of the mother; later phases represent the repetitive faculty of the child, and his or her reactions to the behaviour of those who are engaged in the operation of 'bringing up children', by means of imitation or reaction-formation, both of which enter into the construction of the ego-ideal.
The question of suitable preparation for the educationist, amateur or professional, is a problem of immense difficulty, because, more often than not, no thought is taken of the unconscious mind and unconscious processes, nor of the functions of these, as far as they affect the behaviour or reactions of the children, or that the influence of the unconscious mind and its processes are also strongly operative where the opinions and reactions of the teacher are concerned. This is a serious blank in the training of the educationist.
The educationist shows a greater willingness to study the child rather than him or herself. He often identifies himself with the children, to the extent of promulgating what might be called a Peter Pan doctrine, joining hands with the more rebellious pupils in the school in order to set aside the idea of authority and leadership and to erect in its place the standard of equality and fraternity. This standard must be rooted deeply in the personal psychology of the teacher, for it is followed blindly and eagerly, without any suggestion on the part of teachers that harmful results could possibly accrue from the method.
A short survey of the reasons which have lead to the adoption of the educational profession follows, illustrated from notes taken from psycho-analytic inves